The blockade is by members of the Ukrainian government and allied militias who are ultranationalist, racist, and have a pathological hatred of Russia and all things Russian. The reality is that Russia is not waging war against Ukraine, as even Ukrainian military leaders have admitted.

Approximately 40% of Ukraine’s electric grid runs on coal. The county is already in an energy emergency. Ukraine’s 19 nuclear reactors rely on grid power for cooling. If the grid goes down partially or completely, if there is no back up power, Ukraine could experience up to 6 X Fukushima.

The United States has waged a destabilization campaign against Ukraine since the end of World War II, nurturing neo-Nazi elements in the society. Asst. Sec. of State Victoria Nuland admitted the U.S. has spent $5 billion in this effort. The U.S. supported the Maidan coup d’etat in 2014, and continues aiding, arming, training, and advising the military, the militias, and the government in the war it wages against East Ukraine, where a majority of residents are ethnic Russians. Germany, the UK, and France are also responsible for this horrific situation. These countries must stop their financial, military, and moral support for the Kiev regime.

For news on Russia and Ukraine not on the corporate media, http://www.globalresearch.ca/indepthreport/ukraine-report

From Sputnik News

March 11, 2017

The organizers of the trade blockade in eastern Ukraine threaten to block all coal imports from Russia.

KIEV (Sputnik) — The organizers of the trade blockade in eastern Ukraine said Friday that they would block all coal imports from Russia beginning from April 2 in case Kiev failed to reach agreements on coal shipments from other countries by that time.

“We give the government time by April 2 to sign the contracts on coal supplies with countries which do not conduct warfare against Ukraine. We give the government time by April 2 to reconsider its trade policy with the aggressor country of Russia,” the blockade’s main organizer, Anatoliy Vynohrodsky, told reporters.

He added that beginning from April 2 the observation stations of the blockade organizers, which are to be established along all the railway transition posts, will begin the blockade’s active phase.

“First of all we will not let coal from Russia pass,” Vynohrodsky pointed out.

Vynohrodsky noted that concerning other supplies from Russia, the blockade organizers would “consult with the Ukrainian people.”In late January, a group of former participants of Ukraine’s military operation in Donbas, including several lawmakers, blocked traffic on several segments of freight rail lines running from the territories uncontrolled by Kiev. The blockade led to irregularities in supplies of anthracite coal from Donbass, leading to power shortages in Ukraine and prompting Kiev to declare an energy emergency.

Kiev’s authorities criticized the actions of the blockade organizers saying that coal shipments from Donbass were legal as coal producing plants located there had been paying taxes to the Ukrainian State Treasury Service. However, no efforts have been undertaken by the Kiev authorities to lift the blockage.

In January 2015, the Ukrainian parliament adopted a statement designating Russia as an aggressor country, as Kiev considered Russia being a party to the military conflict in Donbass. No evidence supporting this statement was provided.

Moscow denounced the statement. Russia repeatedly said it was not part to the Ukrainian conflict, had not provided military equipment to Donbass militia and was interested in the settlement of the Ukrainian crisis.

“Donbass, the Heart of Russia.” 1921 poster has two coal miners at top, and the map serves well today to show how suicidal blocking the coal trains was.

This is Sputnik France’s illustration for this report. “The EU urges lifting the Commercial blockade of Donbass.” And the picture’s hidden label reads “Instead of aid, blockade.”

Faced with the prospect of revolving power outages in Ukraine, the European Union has at last taken note of the commercial blockade of the Donbass, with Kiev no longer receiving the anthracite coal absolutely necessary for the Ukrainian power stations.

The commercial blockade of the Donbass
a) violates the rights of Ukrainians living in the territories that are currently beyond the control of Kiev, and
b) is likely to trigger an energy crisis in the country, warns the representation of the European Union in Ukraine, adding that the organizers of the blockade must immediately lift it.

The blockade of the railway connections with Donbass started at end of January, when a group of veterans of the volunteer battalions participating in the hostilities [on the side of the Kiev regime], with deputies of the Supreme Rada (Ukrainian parliament), blocked traffic on the railway line.

The organizers of the blockade claimed that any trade with the self-proclaimed People’s Republics of Donetsk (DNR) and Lugansk (LNR) was illegal, and that all goods transported were therefore contraband.

The railway blockade has led to problems in getting anthracite coal from the Donbass, causing difficulties in Ukraine’s energy sector. As a result, Kiev is already considering revolving power cuts in most parts of the country.

This is a critical situation in terms of peace as well as the nuclear danger. I think most people would be appalled at the reality in Ukraine, a country that the United States has been working to destabilize and control since the end of World War II.

“Yatsenyuk: Ukraine doesn’t have enough coal for the winter, extraordinary measures are needed”

The Prime Minister of Ukraine, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, has stated that Ukraine does not have enough stockpiles of coal for the winter. He demanded that an emergency plan of measures be worked out to solve the problem.

“According to the date which I have, it is clear that, as I warned three months ago, there is not a sufficient supply of coal. In order to avoid power outages as last year, I urgently demand an extraordinary plan of measures in order to pass the winter with a stable energy system in the country. This is now the topic of discussion,” Yatsenyuk stated during a meeting with the anti-crisis energy headquarters.

According to him, the state has allocated necessary resources, and now needs to get down to business.

The head of the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine, Vladimir Demchishin, said earlier on Friday that the coal reserves of Ukraine are sufficient for at least one month, “but in the longer term problems will arise.”

According to Demchishin, at the present moment supplies of coal from Russia and Donbass to Ukraine are restricted.

This week, the Donetsk People’s Republic suspended deliveries of coal to Kiev-controlled territories and has stated that it will not resume deliveries until Ukraine restores the power supply to Crimea.

Counterpunch reports on the western media and government collusion in recent attacks on Crimea:

“Ever since the Maidan coup of February 2014, Western media and governments have all but incited violent actions by extremists against the Crimean people. Unknown to people in the West is the aforementioned, food transport blockade, ongoing since September 20. Western media has self-censored reports of that, including the central role played by the neo-Nazi Right Sector group.”

That’s not all…

Ever since then, Crimea has been the focal point of the NATO strategic offensive against Russia in the region. Most disturbingly recently, a GLADIO-style terror campaign seems to have targeted Crimea, and like clock-work, western media outlets in the process of inventing a tidy narrative in order to package what is clearly new campaign of terror that’s currently being unleashed in the region.

WASHINGTON’S PROXY: US planners would refer to working with Ukraine’s Nazis as a ‘necessary evil’ in order to achieve geopolitical objectives in the region.

On Monday, the Crimea government declared a “State of Emergency” this week when Kiev-backed ‘nationalists’ blew up the country’s electrical infrastructure causing mass blackouts, with “Crimea is completely cut off,” says Director of Crimea Energy, Viktor Plakida, .

In what appears to be a true-to-form, classic false flag attack – a ‘Crimean Tatar’ flag was placed at the site of explosion. It’s more likely that the guiding hand of NATO Intelligence is active behind the scenes to intensify the situation.

Naturally, western media outlets are trying to frame the narrative as a ‘internal dispute’ between ethnic Tartars and ‘Russian speakers in Crimea’ (as part of the western media’s ongoing effort to isolate and demonize Russia at every turn). Still, a number of likely CIA-run editorial desks, and Mockingbird-type media outlets still refer to the Crimean referendum in winter of 2014 as “Russia’s bloodless invasion in February and March 2014”.

The reality on the ground is everyone’s worst nightmare come true: fighting has now begun between US-backed proxy militants and ethnic Russian and Russian-speaking forces as Washington and NATO continues to arm-up a flagging Ukrainian military, and supply their new ‘deniability brigades’, NeoNazis paramilitary platoons, Right Sector and Tatar militias, some of whom have been implicated in terrorist attacks in recent months.

CIA-NATO Dream Team: Nazis and ISIS Fighting Side-By-Side in Ukraine

Other US State Department-aligned foreign policy blogs have even admitted that US military Special Forces have been training new Ukrainian special forces, and seem to be ramping-up the rhetoric in the hopes of trigger more instability in the region.

Another disturbing development which has been all but blacked-out by US TV media, is that either CIA or NATO Intelligence (or both) appear to have drafted in Islamic Battalions, stocked with militant Chechens (likely many of the same fighters rotating through Syria fighting for ISIS), to help the US-backed regime in Kiev defeat Russian-speaking Rebels in eastern Ukraine.

#7 Will Russia come to aid our misguided Ukrainian brothers? I think not this time. Although we would look at the collapse of the energy system of Ukraine with great sadness, the blockade of Crimea leaves us with no other choice than responding symmetrically.

Russian customs no longer allow coal to be delivered to Ukraine. The DPR has also stopped shipments of coal in the direction of Kiev. Gazprom, meanwhile, has cut off the supply of gas to Ukraine until it receives new payments. I’ll also remind everyone that two weeks ago Ukraine temporarily stopped buying electricity from Russia. It is quite obvious that prior to the lifting of the blockade of Crimea there will be no new deliveries of energy from Russia.

If one considers that the Americans are still more than unwilling to pay 3 billion dollars of Ukrainian debt by the end of December then the “Ukraine is not Russia” project will have the chance to end ahead of time. If nothing changes, then there will be no money and no electricity in the new year in Ukraine.

#8 Do they understand the depth of the problem in Kiev? I have no doubt that they understand. Actually, this is why Kiev’s promises to restore the supply of electricity to Crimea can be heard daily.

I’ll repeat: this indicates that Kiev wanted to bargain with us. However, this time, it is possible that we will not talk with Kiev and that it will have to untangle energy problems on its own.

Is Ukraine worried about winter? From a purely technical point of view, probably yes due to the complete stalling of the energy supply industry and other emergency measures. But, as you know, transitioning Ukraine’s economy into such a regime does not increase chances of survival.

#9 Many hot heads propose that Ukraine be dealt with as harshly as possible and that Ukraine should not be allowed to be supplied with coal or electricity even after the blockade of Crimea will be lifted.

These hotheads forget that Ukraine is now under the direct control of the US and that its elites will remain warm in their offices anyway. It’s not Mr. Yatsenyuk or Mr. Saakashvili who will “freeze solid,” but those who are held hostage by the Americans – Ukrainians.

Such a scenario does not categorically suit us, but organizing a “Holodomor” in Ukraine might bring some political points to our American friends and partners.

Ask Crimeans if they’ve begun to love Ukraine after the electricity blockade by Kiev. They’ll reply that they have not. And rest assured: If Russia were to follow the pseudo-patriots and attempted to freeze Ukraine, then Russophobic moods in Ukraine would only be strengthened by this.

Now it is already clear that the “Ukraine is not Russia” project has failed. It’s already necessary to think about the future, about how Russia will build relations with Ukraine after an adequate change of government in Kiev.

#10 Finally, I suggest that we pay attention to Europe’s reaction. The German foreign ministry directly called the disabling of electricity to Crimea a crime. Why? Because the Germans are not fools and they perfectly understand that if Ukraine is given a free hand, then next time it will blow up transmission line towers along the European Union pipeline.

Summary

Kiev’s attempt to blackmail Russia with Crimea has failed. Presumably, Kiev will now try to rewind and quickly fix the power line to Crimea. If for some reason Kiev can’t do this, then Crimea will remain without electricity anyway, but Ukraine might face a winter with the most severe energy crisis in its modern history.